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Light Houses

New York has an amazing architectural legacy that surrounds us each and every day. The Landmarks Conservancy enjoys highlighting a different architectural function, type, or style each month of the City we love.

New York is situated on one of the largest natural harbors in the world, and once required many lighthouses to aid maritime navigators. In July, we’ll shine the spotlight on these beacons which have played an important role in the security and well-being of New York and the country.

Located on the former site of the United States Lighthouse Service’s General Depot in St. George, Staten Island, the National Lighthouse Museum educates visitors about the history and technology of our nation’s lighthouses. To learn more, visit our Tourist In Your Own Town video:

https://nylandmarks.org/explore-ny/national-lighthouse-museum

ByNew York Landmarks Conservancy logoNew York Landmarks Conservancy
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Little Red Lighthouse
Little Red Lighthouse icon

Little Red Lighthouse

The Little Red Lighthouse was first constructed in 1880 and moved to its current location in 1921. It is located underneath the George Washington Bridge along this treacherous section of the Hudson River once known as Jeffrey’s Hook. The lighthouse was made famous in the 1942 children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift, illustrated by Lynd Ward. This is the smallest surviving lighthouse in New York City and serves as a quaint reminder of the area’s history.
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Coney Island Lighthouse
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Coney Island Lighthouse

Coney Island (Norton's Point) Light is located in Sea Gate, on the west end of Coney Island, east of New York Harbor's main channel. The lighthouse was designed by Major D.P. Heap of the U.S. Lighthouse Service, who also built several other lighthouses with the same design in 1890 at a cost of $18,000. The current tower, first lit in 1920, is still operational. The Coney Island Lighthouse was automated in 1989. Frank Schubert (1915-2003) was the most recent resident. He was the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the U.S.
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Blackwell Island Lighthouse
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Blackwell Island Lighthouse

Located at the northeast tip of Roosevelt Island, Blackwell Island Lighthouse was built by New York City in 1872. The 50-foot-tall Gothic-style lighthouse was designed by James Renwick, Jr., and operated until about 1940. In the 1970s, the lighthouse was partially restored. The restoration was completed in 1998. Blackwell Island Lighthouse was named to the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1972, and was designated a New York City Landmark on March 23, 1976.
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Staten Island Range Light
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Staten Island Range Light

The Staten Island Range Light, also known as the Ambrose Channel Range Light, is the rear range light companion to the West Bank Lighthouse. The 90-foot tower sits more than five miles northwest of the West Bank Lighthouse, on Staten Island’s Richmond Hill (Lighthouse Hill), 141 feet above sea level. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1968 and remains a valuable aid to navigation for ships entering the Ambrose Channel in Lower New York Bay. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
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Battery Weed
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Battery Weed

Fort Wadsworth Light is a 1903 lighthouse built atop Battery Weed on Staten Island overlooking New York Harbor. The light range reaches the Narrows, the entrance to the harbor. It is located under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Fort Wadsworth Light was part of the transfer of Fort Wadsworth from the Navy to the National Park Service in March 1995 as part of Gateway National Recreation Area. Dark for many years, it was restored and converted to solar power by volunteers in 2005.
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Princes Bay Lighthouse
Princes Bay Lighthouse icon

Princes Bay Lighthouse

The Prince’s Bay Lighthouse and Complex recall the maritime industry that once thrived on Staten Island. It is one of New York City’s oldest surviving lighthouse complexes and stands on one of the highest bluffs on Staten Island’s southern shoreline overlooking Raritan Bay. In 1864, the Federal Lighthouse Board, which was charged with upgrading navigational aids along America’s coasts, appropriated $30,000 to build the lighthouse. For more than 100 years it served a critical role in guiding sailing ships along the coast of Staten Island-bound for ports in New York and New Jersey. The Lighthouse was decommissioned in 1922 and was purchased in 1926 by Mount Loretto, the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin. From 1988 until his death in 2000, Cardinal John O’ Connor used the Prince’s Bay Lighthouse Complex as a summer retreat, and the Lighthouse was dedicated in his honor in 2007. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation currently manages the property as a nature preserve. Prince's Bay Lighthouse and Complex were designated a New York City Landmark in June 2016.
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